WINTHROP, Mass. — Winthrop, Mass. – The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) announced its 2024-25 Academic All-Conference Team on Monday (June 16) afternoon. The list includes a 1,648 student-athletes, which eclipses a new league-high.

In order to be eligible for academic all-conference, a student-athlete must maintain a 3.25 cumulative GPA and have completed second-year academic status. Student-athletes must also have competed in at least one of the conference’s 21 championship sports.

This the sixth year in a row that more than 1000 student-athletes have earned Academic All-Conference honors.

This year’s impressive list marks the sixth consecutive year that more than 1,000 GNAC student-athletes have received selection, and (at least) the 17th straight year that the GNAC has had a conference-record total:

Saint Joseph’s has had at least 40 athletes honored in each of the institution’s 18 years as a member of the GNAC (2008 – 42, 2009 – 61, 2010 – 59, 2011 – 58, 2012 – 75, 2013 – 70, 2014 – 82, 2015 – 86, 2016 – 89; 2017 – 92, 2018 – 95, 2019 – 115, 2020 – 117, 2021 – 120, 2022 – 118, 2023 – 114, 2024 – 132, 2025 – 132; 1,658 total).

The Saint Joseph’s College men’s lacrosse program led the 2024-25 academic honorees with an impressive 18 student-athletes recognized. Baseball followed closely with 16 selections, while the field hockey and women’s soccer teams each featured 8 honorees. Women’s basketball and women’s lacrosse both landed 7 student-athletes on this year’s list. In total, 13 multi-sport Monks were also honored for their academic achievements across seasons.

The Monks’ group of 132 honorees features 84 repeat-honorees, including 28 who earned the award third time (***) and 56 for the second time (**) during their respective collegiate careers.

View the full list of the 132 Saint Joseph’s GNAC All-Academic Honorees here!

ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 14 member institutions and over 3,500 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.

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HANOVER, N.H.—Dartmouth’s Haldeman Family Director of Athletics and Recreation, Mike Harrity and Dartmouth College announce a project to renovate Dartmouth’s Rupert C. Thompson Arena, that will modernize locker rooms and team spaces, and benefit team building, student-athlete development, and future recruiting.

Thompson Arena has been the home of Dartmouth men’s and women’s hockey since opening in 1975. The 11,050-square-foot renovation will provide both programs with new locker rooms, team lounges, sports medicine spaces, a weight room, a coaches’ suite, as well as a new donor and fan hospitality space on the concourse level.

Over the last year, Dartmouth women’s hockey welcomed new head coach Maura Crowell, who brings a record of sustained success from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). Crowell led UMD to three consecutive 20 plus win seasons and two NCAA Frozen Four appearances (2021, 2022). She was named the USCHO Division I Women’s Coach of the Year and the CCM/AHCA National Coach of the Year in 2016–17 and was a finalist for the CCM/AHCA award again in both 2021 and 2022. Her leadership signals a new chapter for Dartmouth women’s hockey, rooted in competitive excellence and academic achievement.

The men’s hockey program continues to thrive under Koenig Family Head Coach of Dartmouth Men’s Hockey, Reid Cashman. The program is coming off a historic 2024–25 season, returning to the Top 20 rankings and winning the Ivy League Championship outright for the first time since 1979–80. In addition, Cashman and his staff were named Ivy League coaching staff of the year in 2024-25, while Cashman was named Tim Taylor ECAC Coach of the Year previously for the 2023-24 season. This success reflects the program’s continued investment in holistic student-athlete development—combining elite performance with academic rigor.

“This renovation will create a modern space to facilitate individual student-athlete development and team cohesion both on and off the ice,” Harrity shared. “We’re able to provide our teams with this enhancement because of the tremendous support from our alumni, the college, and the athletics and recreation department.”

The Thompson Arena locker rooms were last renovated in the summer of 2016 with both the men’s and women’s locker rooms receiving improvements. Part of the 2016 renovation also saw updates to the playing surface including new dasher boards and glass and a new refrigeration system. 

Crowell is excited about the upgraded locker room, which will be among the best in Division I hockey. “An upgraded locker room is meaningful to our team because it will give us the ability to have more space and create a true hockey epicenter, which is important to our program. The upgraded stalls and design will put us among the best locker rooms in the nation.”

Cashman is looking forward to having a central hub for Dartmouth hockey. “One of the great positives from this renovation is that everything related to Dartmouth hockey will now be under the Thompson roof. Our new coaches’ suite will allow our coaches to have more integration with our student-athletes. The new locker rooms and lounges will give our student-athletes an unbelievable atmosphere to prepare on and off the ice.”

The project will be divided into three phases, with the final phase expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.

“Renovated facilities are great for the current student-athletes but also should enhance recruiting to grow our program. Thompson Arena is already an incredible rink but the decision to renovate is a testament to Dartmouth’s commitment to constant improvement in all areas,” Dartmouth women’s hockey player Izee Powell ’26 added. “This renovation will create a better training facility for our team which is an important signal that Dartmouth is investing in the student-athletes so that we can be the best we can possibly be. I’m really lucky to be a part of it and I can’t wait for the future success of Dartmouth women’s hockey.”

Matt Fusco ’27 of the men’s hockey team is excited about all of the renovations. “The plans for the rink look unbelievable. We will have so many resources at our disposal, and everything we need will be right there for our whole team. This addition will be big and will help us separate from the rest of college hockey. Having all of the benefits of what Dartmouth offers its students plus the addition to the rink; it makes Dartmouth the place to be in college hockey.”

Phase one, which started in January 2025, focuses on adding to the building infrastructure of the arena.  Phase two focuses on the energy upgrades to the mechanical systems which is part of Dartmouth’s decarbonization effort to reach carbon-zero operations by 2050.

Phase three will complete the interior renovations and all site work upgrades with the completion anticipated in time for the start of the season in fall 2026.

Throughout the renovations, both Dartmouth men’s and women’s hockey will continue to call Thompson Arena home. Dartmouth Athletics and Recreation is grateful to campus leaders for their support in updating Thompson Arena for the first time in 50 years. Dartmouth hockey has benefitted from an energized alumni and fan base with millions of dollars in private support committed to this project. For more information on how you can make a transformational gift to the Thompson Arena renovation, contact Steve Maciejewski, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Development (steven.j.maciejewski@dartmouth.edu).

2025-26 season ticket deposits are now on sale, to secure your season ticket for 2025-26, click here for men’s hockey and click here for women’s hockey.

Another NHL draft pick is on the way to Orono.

Carolina Hurricanes fifth-round draft choice (156th overall) Justin Poirier, who scored 122 goals in 181 regular season games over the last three seasons for Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, will be playing for the University of Maine this coming season.

The 5-foot-9, 183-pound Poirier scored 43 goals and added 37 assists in 58 games for Baie-Comeau Drakkar this past season after leading the league in goals in 2023-24 with 51. He also had 31 assists for 82 points in 68 games two years ago.

He led the league in playoff goals in 2023-24 with 18 in 17 games. He had nine playoff assists.

Poirier, who will turn 19 on Sept. 4, said there were a number of reasons behind his decision to come to UMaine.

“I liked the fact the guys were all friends with each other,” Poirier said about the Black Bears locker room.

He also liked that he was coming to a winning program and he was impressed with the renovations to the Alfond Arena.

UMaine won the Hockey East Tournament last season for the first time since 2004 and has reached the NCAA Tournament the last two years for the first time since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

UMaine is in the midst of a $50 million renovation to the 48-year-old arena.

“There’s going to be a lounge where you can have dinner and do your homework and that’s very cool,” said Poirier, who added that he liked the fact the rink was on campus and close to the classrooms and living facilities.

Poirier will be expected to help fill a scoring void left by the departure of players who scored exactly half of UMaine’s goals last season. Sixty-two of the 124 goals were scored by players who have departed.

“That’s what I’m going to try to bring to the team, my offensive side. I’m going to keep shooting the puck and hope to score some goals,” said Poirier, who is from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec.

According to the Elite Prospects 2024 NHL Draft Guide, Poirier “drives all over the offensive zone in search of goals, positioning himself at the far-post for backdoor plays and jumping on rebounds in front of the net.”

Poirier “instinctively knows when and where a scoring chance will arise and how to seize them all,” according to that draft guide, which adds that he “can fire in the middle of steps on the rush, directly off passes with a catch-and-release motion or with a blazing one-timer.”

The incoming right wing knows there is going to be a significant adjustment and he is looking forward to it.

“I’ll be playing against older guys and bigger guys,” Poirier said. “In Major Junior, the players are 16-20 years old while in NCAA, they’re 18-to-25. So this will be way better for my development. I want to play in the NHL so I’m excited to make this jump.”

He intends to keep working on his strength in the offseason and he is also focusing on improving his quickness, especially in tight spaces. He wants to be able to get close to full speed in as few steps as possible.

“I want to become the best hockey player I can for the entire 200 feet. Hard work is the key to success,” said Poirier.

He noted that Orono will be a much shorter commute for his family compared to when he was playing for Baie-Comeau Drakkar, and they’re excited about coming to watch him play.

“It is five and a half hours to Orono while it was nine hours the last three years in juniors,” he pointed out.

His coming to UMaine is contingent upon him being accepted into the school and meeting NCAA eligibility requirements.